St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-16
Place of Observation
TIE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Our streets are to be sprinkled this sum-
mer, and everybody will be glad of it, But
sprinklinG is not all that the streets will
need. Ehey will want cleaning as well.
1t will be great comfort to be relieved of
the dust nuisance, but the health of the
city will not be much benefited if dirt is al
lowed 10 accumulate in the streets. The
streets should be cleaned first and then
sprinked The Sanitary Era lays down a
most excellent platform of sanitary reform
for the use of cities, and asks the advice
and cooperation of SanitarianS and editors
Of public journals in agitating the matter.
So Ear as the GLOBE is concerned, we find
no reason to withhold Endorsement, as the
programme embraces the essential features
Of sanitary reform. The platform consists
Of the following planks:
A purified and perfected water supply
for every city.
Strict prevention of the pollution Of water
courses Surface Or underground by sew
age, cesspools, drains, styes, stables, offal
OF other refuse.
Effective sanitation of sewage enforced
without discharge of its impurities into
SuDSUll, atmosphere OF SlrodlllS.
Enforced defecation by dried soil of all
organic eXcrement or refuse. Enforced en-
velopment of all buried corpses in from
thirty to sixty cubic feet Of dried soil, ac-
cording to size.
Enforced ventilation of all public build
ings and conveyances, churches, school
houses, theaters and halls; exhausting at
oil yr,ith Ironrhfc Of
cubic feet of air per minute for every person
and for every gas or oil light therein, the
said measure of exhaust air to be ascer-
tanned and shown by the thermometer at the
outlet registers.
Every undrained piece of wet or marshy
land within the limits of the city to be held
as a public nuisance, and to be abated by
legal proceedings against the owner, the
property or the municipality On tine COM
plant of any city.
Here are seven simple sanitary rules.
easy to De enforced, and yet they contain
all that is essential to the good health of
any city. In most respects the same ideas
have been observed in the system of sani-
tation mapped out by our city authorities.
There has not, however, been the attention
given that ought to have been given to
the draining of swamp lands. As the
city sewage system has been eX-
tended from time to time the swamps
and marshes have been disappearing. Yet
there is good deal of wet land outside of
the densely populated districts which needs
draining, and occasionally pond or marsh
is found in localities in too close proximity
to houses for the health of the people who
live in them. st. Paul has an excellent
water supply, still there is danger from
negligence in respect to keeping the supply
pure. The water should be we'll filtered at
the point where it leaves the reservoir and
enters the aqueduct to be carried into the
houses of the city. Then again each family
should be provided with filterer so that
the impurities may be strained off before
the water is used for family purposes. By
the strict enforcement of few simple rules
such as we have indicated st. Paul will
continue to be for all future time, what it
is known to have been in the past, the
healthiest city on the American continent